BLEATING Motherwell substitute Andy Rose accused Callum McGregor of “playing for a penalty” as the Fir Park side were denied the opportunity to halt Celtic’s amazing unbeaten domestic run that now stands at 66 successive games.
With the champions trailing to a Mikael Lustig own goal 12 minutes from time, referee Willie Collum awarded a spot-kick from which Scotty Sinclair swept in the late equaliser.
Rose insisted: “It wasn’t a penalty. I’ve seen it back and clearly he has played for it.
“He’s gone down, it’s really soft, and it’s happened to us twice in a week now.
“When the referee blew his whistle I was shocked. I really was. The ref’s got a a tough job, but it wasn’t a penalty.
“I’ve planted my leg and he’s ran into me and flopped over. He could easily have stayed on his feet, but he didn’t and it’s cost us.
“It’s a massive decision. These are the sort of decisions I doubt we’d get at the other end.
“We were tremendous. Trevor Carson gave one of the best goalkeeping displays I’ve ever seen so for us to get only a point against Celtic is frustrating.”
Unsurprisingly, Hoops boss Brendan Rodgers didn’t quite agree with the Motherwell player’s summing-up.
He said: “Their keeper makes a great save, it rebounds out and their player makes an attempt to get the ball.
“Callum steps in front, gets his body there and he knocks him over.
“If you look at the referee, he’s in a perfect position to see it. I thought it was a penalty, but when you are the opposition, you probably think it’s not.”
Opposition gaffer Stephen Robinson refused to be drawn into a debate over the penalty and preferred to lavish praise on his players.
He added: “I’m not going to talk about the decision. I just want to talk about the game. Two good teams were both trying to win the game.
“Celtic had a lot of chances and so did we.
“Trevor Carson was outstanding. Let’s talk about Allan Campbell’s performance, Chris Cadden’s performance, Kieran Tierney, Scott Brown. There were some quality performances out there.
“Let’s not talk about the ref.
“I can’t control them. I’m not going to make any comment at all on the penalty.
“I want to talk about how good I thought we were, how much we bridged the gap and how we got about Celtic again. I’m extremely proud of my players.”
Have a look for yourselves…
Penalty? No penalty? What do you think? ⚽ https://t.co/lgv2K0Ed3w #bbcsportscot pic.twitter.com/VIEljf4l7r
— BBC Sport Scotland (@BBCSportScot) November 30, 2017
Penalty? No penalty? It hardly matters, onwards to Saturday and 67…
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